Most of us remember back in the '60s and the '70s that every driveway and parking spot on the street had huge oil stains. It was simply a sign that a hard-working vehicle parks in that spot regularly, and we took the nasty incontinence for granted. But cars got better. Engineers made it a priority to keep engines and transmissions sealed better, environmental awareness was raised, and manufacturing tolerances and materials became better. Meanwhile, lubricants and their additive packages improved, lengthening their maintenance intervals and protecting internal parts better in the process. Now when take a look at parking lots and driveways, you might see a few small stains, but nothing like the giant oil spills of yesteryear.
We've taken better sealing for granted, so when our vintage vehicles spew fluid on a fresh concrete driveway today, we take notice. Our 1968 Plymouth Valiant has got an all-new all-aluminum 500ci low-deck big-block from Indy Cylinder Head, and a well-built three-speed Super StreetFighter A727 TorqueFlite from TCI. Our Indy motor already had the benefit of a sturdy Moroso oil pan, but our 727 still sported a stamped steal, chrome-plated pan. That old-school pan tried its best, but it still suffered from incontinence, resulting in some embarrassing leaks. After perusing the available options, we decided on Moroso's aluminum trans pan. (Surprised?)
A closer look at Moroso's PN 42080 pan for the 727 TorqueFlite (street price $223) shows that it features a thick, plasma-cut aluminum billet bedplate. It's ruler-flat surface and 3/16-inch depth renders its shape unaffected by inconsistencies in fastener clamping load. Furthermore, the sealing surface looks like it was tumbled in media prior to manufacture, the resulting texture acting as a sealing aid. The pan itself is made of formed and TIG-welded aluminum; the thing looks like a piece of artwork and we think it's a shame to hide it on the bottom of our Valiant.
Moroso's 42080 pan is 2.33 inches deep, giving it roughly an extra quart of fluid capacity. It is not, however, so deep (like other pans on the market) that it interferes with ground clearance or hangs below the headers. The extra depth requires that you install a spacer for the fluid filter; this is included in the kit along with three high-quality 10-24x2-inch hex-head bolts, washers, and a spacer gasket. The kit also packs new serrated-head hex bolts to attach the pan to your trans, and best of all, the pan has two integral drains (with serrated-flange 5/16-15 plugs) for attaching a temp sensor and leaving one as a drain plug. How nice! We coupled the trans pan kit with one of Moroso's nifty 93110 trans pan gaskets (street price $27) to hedge our bet against future leaks.
We've entrusted our '68 Valiant with the Mopar experts at Motech Performance in Murrieta, California, before, and that's where we took it again to upgrade our leaking pan. Cofounder Chris Field gave us great service—as always—and confirmed to us that he thought the Moroso pan was the proper fix for our leak. The swap itself was simple, taking less than an hour with Motech's lift and pneumatic fluid evacuator. Wanting to preserve the investment in our TCI Super StreetFighter trans, we made the most logical choice in lubes with AMSOIL ATF, its synthetic formula capable of shrugging off incredible shear loads, scorching temperatures, and insane amounts of mechanical punishment. In the end, we stopped all the leaking from the trans and now we can move on to other nit picks! Let's take a look at how it went down.
1. It's hard to focus on automotive greatness when your ride is soiling itself at every stop. It's also unsafe for a leak like this to progress if you plan on racing your car like we do.
2. Moroso supports the Chrysler market like few manufacturers and their aluminum deep-sump pan for the 727 TorqueFlite (PN 42080) was the best solution to our problem. A great sealing surface, stiffness, extra capacity, integrated drain plugs, good looks, and the completeness of the kit made it the logical choice.
3. A comparison of the stock stamped pan (left) and the Moroso pan is instructive. The stock unit's stamped mating flange easily gets bent out of shape from repeated use where the Moroso's shape stays constant. Note the extra depth of the Moroso; extra fluid means lower temps and better dilution for contaminants.
4. Nothing wrong per se about the stock trans gasket (brown), but Moroso's reusable gasket (PN 93110) has perceptible benefits; a rigid steel core is sandwiched by two layers of 40 durometer rubber allowing it to outlast ordinary cork or paper gaskets by years. Its ability to easily conform to uneven, worn, or damaged surfaces is what makes the whole deal work.
5. Given the investment in our TCI-built ToqueFlite, we really only had one choice for AFT: AMSOIL synthetic. Not knowing exactly how much extra volume the Moroso pan would take, we brought plenty extra.
6. You can go old school and carefully split the pan seal from a corner and drain a couple of quarts, but Motech's Chris Field has to keep up his dapper appearance at all times, which means not staining his work duds! The Mightyvac MV7300 pneumatic air operated fluid evacuator was plumbed to the trans dipstick tube to remove fluid from the stock pan before starting.
7. A speed wrench removes the stock bolts so the stock stamped steel pan can be removed. Once it's off, unscrew the fluid filter and set it on your workbench.
8. You'll need to save the 727's fluid filter pickup screen and bolt it to the billet aluminum spacer included with the Moroso pan kit. The kit comes with three new, longer fasteners and a gasket. It's nice not running midway through to the parts store!
9. Give the filter a good cleaning, and use an Allen wrench to bolt the filter (with the new spacer) on the trans again. Don't forget the triangular gasket.
10. As Chris tightened the bolts on the Moroso pan, we could see the new gasket compress, filling in the inconsistencies of the 50-year-old transmission case. Here the last bolts sandwich the steel shifter cable bracket for our TCI Outlaw shifter.
11. We topped the trans up with AMSOIL, then checked the level with the engine running. Unlike GM and Ford transmissions, the fluid level will not be accurate with the trans in "Park." The TorqueFlite's fluid pump does not charge the torque converter in "Park," so you'll need it in "Neutral." Failure to do this will result in a level that reads higher than it really is.
